EcoBuild
NEWSLETTER 2008-1
EcoBuild – a competence centre for eco-effi cient
and innovative wood-based materials
www.ecobuild.se
Message from the Manager
Centre
Management
Magnus Wålinder Centre Manager
Mats Westin Deputy Centre Manager
Home page statistics
Prof. Phil Evans (U of British Columbia) paid a new visit to Stockholm 18-20 February. New contacts were established during a project meeting with Dp4 Clear Coatings and in other meetings with researchers at SP Trätek, KTH and YKI. We look forward to future opportunities to even better take advantage of Phil’s broad and deep compe-tence. During his stay he also held another seminar at KTH, Fibre and Polymer Techno-logy, with the title “Wollemi Pine, Warts & New Approaches to Making Wood the Eco-friendly Material of the Future”.
Phil gave glimpses of the broad research he has been involved in during the past 20 years. The seminar reached over a wide range from the discovery of the world’s
ol-The transatlantic link is strengthened
dest tree species, the Wollemi Pine in Australia, over product impro-vement of wood cement composites, to plasma treatment of wood. A fascinating study on the microanatomy of the tree genus Cal-litris, chiefl y growing in Australia, showed hitherto unknown varia-tions in the structure of the wart layers. He also showed the effect of fi bre surface roughness on cell wall wettability. These fi ndings might be helpful when developing low energy systems for transport of li-quids.
The theme of his seminar in October was revisited in discussions of outdoor exposure of wood and different methods to protect it from degradation. Also shown were results from x-ray studies of distribu-tion of adhesives in particle boards. All of us who saw the illustrative pictures and movies shown by Phil, will agree that there is a big po-tential for making more effi cient use of adhesives in such products. Prof. Roger Rowell is back in Stockholm
during the period 22 March - 7 May for a new session of work at EcoBuild in Stock-holm and Borås.
The fi rst year of EcoBuild can be summarized simply: The basic organisation of the centre is now established and the research is running well. A big challenge has been to fi nd an effi cient struc-ture for the all-important communication and administration of information within the centre. The newsletter and the home page are two important channels for information, both internally and externally. In addition, the internal web forum is crucial for the handling of the information within the various sub-projects. The web forum has taken time to build, mainly because it is based on new software that EcoBuild has been a pioneer user of within SP. The high security requirements have also required particular care in distributing the rights to share information in the complex system of activities.
Regarding the research within the centre, the activities of the original programme have been successfully started. In accord with the plans, practically all of the 22 defi ned sub-projects have been launched, and ca 3/4 of them are progressing at full speed.
The centre has been well marketed. The home page is increa-singly well visited, and we have received several inquiries from large and small companies, showing interest to join. Scandinavian Fine Wood entered as a new partner in EcoBuild in the begin-ning of 2008, and the board has approved another two producing companies in the wood sector and a large company with a wide spectrum of interests. The names of these will of course be publis-hed as soon as all formalities are settled.
In early March this year EcoBuild was subjected to its fi rst eva-luation by an external panel, commissioned by the governmental fi nancing agencies. The panel visited the centre in Stockholm and was received by the centre management and four other repre-sentatives from the EcoBuild partnership. Mats and I gave a quick overview of the development during the year, and the panel then posed their examining questions. The evaluation was chiefl y ai-med at the effi ciency of the centre organisation, and a report with the conclusions of the panel is presently being prepared by the panel. Our impression is that the panel reacted very positively to our description of the centre.
An annual report has been compiled by the centre manage-ment, and it is now going through its fi nal editing. It will be ready and published on the internal web forum in the beginning of April. Magnus Wålinder
Starting this year, an internal evaluation of the use of the EcoBuild home page is performed after each month. The statistics are very de-tailed, and the use can in fact be monitored day by day. All of this will not be accounted for here, but after three months it can be noted that on an average the number of visits is ca 10 per day. The traffi c is increasing from other web sites that have links to EcoBuild, which can be interpreted as a growing number of people setting their eyes on this site, but it can also be a sign of an increased use of the inter-nal web forum. The visitors are of course concentrated to Sweden, but in total the visitors of ecobuild.se represent 30 countries, with an increasing share in Asia, North America and South America.
Molecular methods for better understanding of
decay in modifi ed wood
The area of wood protection is in a pe-riod of change. New wood protection systems have been developed, while their mode of action remains insuffi -ciently understood. Also, the ongoing development of new wood protec-ting systems is hampered by the cur-rent dependency on long-term fi eld tests. New accelerated test methods and novel methods for early detection and quantifi cation of decay are the-refore needed. The development of molecular methods provides potential tools to investigate the effects of de-cay fungi on modifi ed wood and new protection systems.
The major goal of the present sub-project is to gain knowledge about the degradative mechanisms utilized by decay fungi when exposed to mo-difi ed wood. Molecular methods can give some of the answers, and one fi rst step to tackle some of the unsol-ved questions is taken in this study. A specifi c and Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (QRT-PCR) assay was now established for identi-fying and quantiidenti-fying early stages of fungal colonisation in modifi ed wood and for profi ling growth dynamics of the white-rot fungus
Tra-metes versicolor through different stages of decay.
QRT-PCR was used to study the colonisation of three different wood modifi cation systems (acetylation, furfurylation, thermal mo-difi cation), two reference treatments (Cu-HDO, CCA) and untreated controls of Scots pine sapwood. The incubation time was 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks. While the fungal colonisation in untreated control samples showed a continuous increase during the experimental pe-riod, the amount of fungal DNA in modifi ed wood had an initial peak after two weeks. In the following weeks the DNA amount declined to roughly half of the peak amount. The furfurylated samples had
a lower fungal colonisation than all the other treatments except for Cu-HDO. In the reference samples of traditional wood preservation systems (Cu-HDO, CCA) the fungal colonisation trend was quite si-milar to that observed in modifi ed wood, except that the amount of fungal DNA declined more drastically in these copper-based treat-ments than in modifi ed wood.
These results will be presented at the IRG 29 Annual Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on 25-29 May 2008.
Every QRT-PCR analysis involves up to 96 samples.
The second annual General Meeting
The General Meeting on 31 January summarized the fi rst year of EcoBuild and described the plans for continued work during 2008. The event was well-attended. A little more than 40 participants, of which almost half represented the industrial partners, listened to ac-counts of the current development in the different technical areas and sub-projects. A large part of the overview was given by the cen-tre management, Magnus Wålinder and Mats Westin, but a number of other area coordinators and sub-project leaders also appeared.
The formal meeting part was dealt with in a short time, and among other things the enrolment of some new industrial partners was repor-ted. They are now 35 in total. Special attention was given to the internal web forum, which was pre-sented by Rune Ziethén. The web forum is indispensable for the sha-ring of information within the cen-tre and for keeping all produced do-cuments in order. The presentation was partly in the form of guidance to the users, and it was underlined that this forum has not reached any fi nal form, but it will be subject to continuous changes. Further educa-tion and training in the utilizaeduca-tion of the web forum will be offered whe-never needed, chiefl y to sub-project leaders.
Area 1: Biobased binders
The wide group of researchers active in EcoBuild will consecutively be briefl y presented in this and forthcoming issues of the newsletter. For each person, a few key words are used to give a small glimpse of their respective profi les. We begin this time with area 1: Biobased binders.
Sub-projects:
Dp1 Novel agro-protein based board resins Dp2 Bio-polyester
Dp3 Lignin/cellulose esters
Area coordinator:
Prof. Mark Lawther, Biovelop
Finn Englund Ph D., SP Trätek Organic synthesis, coatings,
wood material science, environmental issues Emma Östmark
Ph D, SP Trätek Polymer synthesis,
macro-mole-cular architecture, grafting, renewable materials (Emma is also freshly recruited
from KTH Fibre and Polymer technology, where she just before Christmas successfully defended her doctoral thesis, entitled ”Tuning Properties of Surfaces and Nanoscopic Objects
Using Dendronization and Controlled Polymerizations”.)
Mats Johansson Professor, KTH Coatings, polymer synthesis, networks, renewable materials
Sara Khosravi Industrial PhD student,
Casco Adhesives Adhesives, particle board and
MDF, analysis Eva Malmström
Professor, KTH Macromolecular architecture, dendritic polymers, controlled
polymerizations
Farideh Khabbaz Casco Adhesives Research, biobased wood
adhesives Petra Nordqvist
Industrial Ph D, Casco Adhesives and KTH Biobased wood adhesives, proteins
Peter Herder
R&D manager, Casco Adhesives Project portfolio management,
adhesives development for wood industry, patents
Ulf Odda Casco Adhesives R&D and Market manager,
board adhesives
Per Persson Ph D, Perstorp Speciality
Chemicals AB R&D: engineer, coatings binders, organic synthesis
Stefan Lundmark Innovation manager, Perstorp
Specialty chemicals AB, R&D Associate professor LTH, Polymer
technology Polysacharides (non-starch), proteins,
enzymes, lignin-cellulose cross-links, fi bre modifi cations, bio-based binders
AB Bitus, A-Cell Acetyl Cellulosics AB, Akzo Nobel Industrial Coatings AB, Akzo Nobel Nippon Paint AB, Arch Timber Protection, BioVelop A/S, Byggelit AB, Casco Adhesives AB, DanAcell Danmark A/S, Dr. Wolman GmbH - BASF Group, Guteform AB, IKEA of Sweden AB, Karlson Husindustrier AB, Kebony ASA (tidigare WPT), KIRAM AB, Lammhults Möbel AB, Norrskogs Forskningsstiftelse/NWP, Ofk Plast AB, Osmose Denmark A/S, Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB, Primo Sverige AB, Rögle Tröskeln AB, Scandinavian FineWood AB, SF Marina Wallhamn AB, Slottsbro AB, SSAB Tunnplåt AB, Sveaskog, Swedish Cable Channel System AB (SCCS), Svenska Lantmännen, Corporate R&D, Södra Skogsägarna, TanumsFönster AB, Vest-Wood Sverige AB (Swedoor), Viance (tidigare CSI), VIDA Packaging AB.
Industrial partners and fi nancers
Centre Board
Ralph Nussbaum, Research Manager Coatings IKEA Lars Stigsson, CEO KIRAM
Eva Hörwing, CEO Byggelit Holding
Ulf Odda, General Manager Casco Board Systems (Akzo Nobel) Hans Thulin, (ordf.) CEO TanumsFönster
Per-Erik Petersson, CTO Chief Technology Offi cer/Prof SP Istvan Furó, Prof KTH
Lars Philipsson, Private
Per Brynildsen, Research Director Kebony
Newsletter from EcoBuild Editor: Finn Englund
Phone: +46 (0)10-615 50 00 • E-mail: fi nn.englund@sp.se Sender: SP Trätek
Box 5609
Visiting address: Drottning Kristinas väg 67 SE-114 86 STOCKHOLM
Main fi nancers of the Centre
SP INFO 2008:15
Key facts about EcoBuild
EcoBuild is a competence centre for cooperation between universities, institutes and industry. The centre is located in the Stockholm campus site of KTH and SP Technical Research In-stitute of Sweden. The 35 industrial partners cover the whole range from small and medium-sized enterprises to large inter-national corporations, and several of them are based abroad.
The centre is estimated to have a turnover of ca. 100 MSEK during the period 2007-2012. VINNOVA, the Knowledge Foundation and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Re-search contributes with 40 MSEK. The industry co-fi nances with 60 MSEK, half of which is as cash contributions and the rest with their own work.
At the moment ca. 107 persons are connected on to the activities of EcoBuild. Around 80 researchers are directly in-volved in the projects. 42 of these are senior researchers, out of which 34 have a PhD degree. Ca. 56 pursue their research mainly at institutes or universities and ca. 25 at the partner industries. The cooperation is reinforced by several cases of double affi liation. 5 PhD students work directly as EcoBuild students, and another 3 external students work within con-nected projects.
Upcoming conferences
• 31 March – 2 April: 42nd International Wood Composites Sym-posium & Technical Workshop
Seattle, WA, USA www.woodsymposium.wsu.edu • 12 – 13 May: 10th International Conference on Progress in
Biofi bre Plastic Composites, Toronto, Ontario, Canada www. biocomposites-toronto.com
• 11-13 June: Nordic Polymer Days 2008, Stockholm www. polymer.kth.se/npd08
• 24-26 September: International Panel Products Symposium 2008, Esbo, Finland
• 14 – 15 October: PRA’s 6th International Woodcoatings Congress “PRESERVE, PROTECT, PROLONG”, Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.pra-world.com
• 14 – 16 October: Wood Plastic Composites 2008, Vien-na, Austria www.amiplastics.com/ami/AMIConference. asp?EventID=135
Licentiate seminar:
Lars Elof Bryne
At 10.15 on Friday the 16 May, Lars Elof Bryne at KTH Byggvetenskap will present his licenti-ate thesis. The title is “Aspects on wettability and surface composition of modifi ed wood.”, and his research deals with material surfaces, chiefl y of modifi ed wood. With sophisticated methods he has studied how ageing, also in protected indoor environments, affects
wet-tability and glueability. The moderator is Charles R. Frihart, Forest Pro-ducts Lab., Madison, WI. All interested are welcome to the seminar room at KTH Byggvetenskap, Brinellvägen 34.
